LIBRARY RESOURCE

The Employment and Entrepreneurship sub-program under Prospects Liberia provides young entrepreneurs, aged 18 to 35 years, business skills training and the opportunity to apply for a microgrant (USD 250 to USD 750) to start up or expand a business through a Youth Investment Fund. Data captured throughout the program indicates that significantly more women than men seek and receive the small business grants. Given this information, the Prospects team sought to understand what motivates young women to pursue entrepreneurship.

A growing body of evidence recognizes the importance of soft skills in predicting long-term life outcomes, including labor market outcomes as well as social and health behaviors (Heckman et al, 2006; Kautz et al., 2014). Soft skills refer to a broad set of skills, behaviors, and personal qualities that enable people to effectively navigate their environment, relate well with others, perform well, and achieve their goals. These skills are applicable across sectors and complement the acquisition of other skills such as technical and academic skills. Although the returns to cognitive and technical skills have long been recognized, recent literature suggests that soft skills rival cognitive skills in their ability to predict positive outcomes. Moreover, evidence suggests that soft skills are more malleable than cognitive skills among adolescents and youth adults (Heckman et al., 2006; Kautz et al., 2014).

AHDR 2016 examines challenges and opportunities facing youth in the Arab region, especially since 2011, and seeks to provide an overview on youth in the region and stimulate a broad dialogue between youth and key stakeholders on the future of development in the region, focusing on the role of youth as critical partners at this very point in time. The point of departure of the report is the demographic fact that the current youth generation is the largest youth cohort this region has had over the past 50 years, making up 30% of its population of 370 million.